Evansville, Ind. --- The Minnesota State volleyball team opened its season with a pair of sweeps defeating Kentucky State, 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-22) and Edinboro University, 3-0 (30-28, 25-22, 25-19), Friday at the USI Invitational.

In the first game Minnesota State and Kentucky State traded kills before the Mavericks pulled ahead to a 13-9 lead prompting the Thorobreds to call timeout.  After the stoppage, the freshman duo of Lauren Lowry and Dana Schindler helped push the Mavericks to take the first set by a score of 25-19.   Lowry finished the opening set with a team high seven assists.

 The second set saw Kentucky State claim an early 7-5 lead before Minnesota State went on a 7-0 run guided by four service aces from Mara Quam.  Despite a fierce comeback from the Thorobreds the Mavericks were able to finish the set with three straight points to win 25-20. 

The third set began highly contested as the teams raced to a 9-9 tie in the opening points before Minnesota State pulled ahead with a 12-9 lead.  With Micayla Porter serving for the Mavericks, the team extended their run to take a 19-10 lead.  Minnesota State would go on to win the third and final set, earning the sweep of Kentucky State, by a final score of 25-19. 

Morgan Olson led all players with 12 kills in the match while Porter led all players with 16 assists.  Freshman Kalee Peter finished the match with a game high four blocks.

The second game saw Minnesota State face off against Edinboro University, where the teams traded 3-0 runs to start the match.  The set played evenly with the teams trading single points until the Fighting Scots pulled to a 19-17 lead.  Minnesota State ran off four straight points to retake the lead before Edinboro tied the match once more at 21.  The hotly contested set saw both teams face set point a combined five times before the Mavericks capitalized on an attack error to win the set 30-28.

In the second set Minnesota State quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead forcing Edinboro to call a timeout.  The Mavericks quickly ran off six of the next seven points, extending their lead even further before the fighting Scots began to rally back earning eight of 11 points to tighten the score to 16-9.  Sophomore Alivia Garbe then smashed two consecutive kills for the Mavericks to push the lead to 18-9 and ultimately Minnesota State held on, surviving a late push, to take the set 25-22.

The third set proved to be another tight contest as both teams remained tied at ten in the early stages.  Kills by Schindler and Garbe however gave the Mavericks a 12-10 lead causing the Fighting Scots to take their first timeout of the set.  Minnesota State then controlled the remainder of the set taking by a score of 25-19, winning on an ace from Quam. 

Olson again led the Mavericks with fifteen kills in the match while Porter and Lowry tallied 18 and 16 assists respectively. 
 
Minnesota State returns to action tomorrow against Ohio Dominican at 9 a.m. before facing tournament host Southern Indiana at 2 p.m.  The match against Southern Indiana will be streamed on the GLVC Sports Network linked here.